County Line — Restaurant in Austin

Summary/Overall: A very solid restaurant with something for everyone. While they emphasize barbecue on their menu, they do the little details exceptionally well rather than entirely specializing in smoking meat; these details added up to make the experience stand out. Excellent value for money when factoring in the taste, portions, service, and atmosphere. I really highly recommend County Line if you want to enjoy a meal with friends & family at a solid restaurant that's doing everything right.

Today, Nov 1, I got 1) The full rack of beef ribs w/ fried okra & beans, 2) housemade banana pudding, and 3) housemade bread. Travis was my waiter for most of my visit, before Megan took over. Both were very good servers, and Travis was friendly, quick, and helpful in explaining the menu. His short and helpful explanations made the difference in me trying more things out.

Sorry for the long review, but I'm not usually intrigued so much by a restaurant like this. I'm fascinated with their excellent attention to detail.

Banana Pudding: 5/5. About $5. It was outstanding and the best I've had: the real kicker was that the bananas were very ripe (still good, just ripe) which gave the tiniest hint of alcohol by the time it was served. In my opinion, that's the best way to make it; the same idea as rum cake although very scaled back. Try it out, you won't be disappointed. This was the last thing I expected to be the meal highlight. Crazy detail that turned it from an impulse try to a must-have.

Housemade Bread: 5/5. For $4.50 you can get a "half loaf", which gets you 5-6 huge pieces of warm, fluffy, sweet, almost cake-like bread. It's accompanied by honey butter-spread and plain butter. You can get stock/store bread for free on request with a barbecue entree, but in my opinion (as pictured), the fresh bread is an excellent appetizer that can satisfy a lot of people on a budget. It is absolutely worth a few bucks to enjoy. Their bread is popular enough that I was immediately offered a bread bag to pack my bread to-go separately. Again, little details done very well, from the warmth of the bread to the care paid to the bread taken to-go.

Fried Okra: 4.5/5. Probably the best fried okra I have ever eaten (and I've eaten these across the South and Midwest). Crisp batter, but not fried hard like most places. The only thing missing would be a good dipping sauce for them (I'm nit-picking), but I ate the whole portion as provided.

Beef Ribs: 4/5. $35 including the two generous side portions (the okra and beans). They were tasty, cooked well, and fun to eat. A bit low in meat and high in fat, but that is the nature of beef back ribs in general. Given the difficult-to-cook and inconsistent nature of beef back ribs, they were solid and I would get them again. The portion was also very generous: around 7-8 ribs. $35 for a full rack of beef ribs in this economy, with two generous sides, is very good. I might suggest splitting the portion between 2 people and getting an appetizer like the bread.

Beans: 3.5-4/5. There was definitely attention to detail here, but not personally my thing. They leaned more on spice and pepper, with a bit of salt, and very little sweetness. Given how consistent and balanced it was, I suspect that's just County Line's style of beans. Some people will like it a lot though.

Barbecue Sauce: 3.5/5. It was decent and I used it. Wouldn't seek it out; a bit flat in flavor and texture. Texas barbecue places don't usually emphasize their sauce, so it doesn't factor much into the...

Easily one of the worst restaurant experiences. Went to have dinner with my family, excited to see everyone and try a new barbecue place. Our waitress (don’t know her name, I don’t think she even said it?), was definitely stressed, dropped multiple plates including my meal, dealt out food without say what it was and was giving us food we didn’t even order. 4/6 people where served while me and my brother just sat watching everyone eat. Never got drink refills, had to remind her to bring out right food, drinks, and correct orders. I think everyone at our table got something wrong on their plate or just straight up didn’t get anything. I have a good feeling the bad service was due to being over worked or poor training. I do not fault our waitress, but was a little surprised that she added an automatic gratuity even with the poor service.

The poor service could’ve been overlooked if the food was good. The food was NOT SEASONED. Bland barbecue? At the table we discussed having better barbecue at a gas station. Nothing tasted like it was seasoned. When I did get my pulled pork sandwich the meat was piping hot but, my Mac n’ cheese (which also VERY bland) was cold? Did not feel that great that they probably just remade the pull pork and gave me someone else’s Mac n’ cheese. No one finished their plate due to the food being just bad. At the end of us chatting, my partner and I ended up going to sonic and picking up food on our way home. We took the food we didn’t eat home to give to our dogs because there was no seasoning so it’s safer for their tummies. At least someone got some enjoyment😣

At other restaurants during busy times usually there’s a manager walking around checking on tables. I’ve even been at places where a very minor mistake and a manager comes by and checks on us. Not once in our entire time did a manager or lead walk by and check on us.

Sorry for the long reply but, just really disappointed. The views and outside seating were great. They are not great enough to over look everything else. Will not be coming back and recommend others to...

It was February 2015. I visited the first County Line on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. I had a special dinner with the management team of a company I invested in. 18 months later, the investment paid off with a 4X return. So not only did I feel good about the investment, but I also felt a special connection to the County Line restaurant.

Since I moved to Austin, Texas, in April 2021, I have been delighted to come across County Line on Bee Cave and have been there so many times. I took numerous guests from outside to this County Line to share a barbecue experience and extend the Texan hospitality.

However, my positive feelings changed today (Friday, Oct 18, 2024) after spending a long time talking to the restaurant managers (first a woman and then a man) as I tried to make a last-minute reservation. (It was a short notice that my guest would be in town and could meet for dinner tonight as he would leave the next morning.)

I was told the County Line managers:

They stopped taking reservations. There are still more tables than the total number of seats booked for the existing reservation.

I understand 100% that restaurants get so busy on Fridays and weekends. Usually, I will try my luck elsewhere. But because tonight I am going to host someone from out of town who is a very special guest, I tried to persuade the County Line manager to accommodate my needs. A reservation with a no-show costs the restaurant business. It’s bad. So I told the restaurant manager I would commit to an on-time show at 7 pm. Moreover, the number of seats already booked for the existing reservation is still less than the total number of seats in the restaurant. There should be no harm to other guests by providing a reservation for table 2 to a loyal customer. However, the manager insisted that I try my luck with the waitlist. Finally, I gave up. I thanked the manager and hung up.

Since the County Line isn’t interested in accommodating a loyal customer, I will go somewhere else. Thankfully, it’s not the only barbecue place...